details details

we're down to the little things and that means... the finish line is in sight!


that door hardware cleaned up great. we were able to salvage enough of the original pieces that we didn't have to buy one new interior doorknob.  plus, they just don't make them this pretty anymore.


we didn't recognize this at first. it's one of the two original handrails in the house, and they were among the first things to be removed before demolition. like many of the other original features, it, too, was covered in multiple layers of paint. the last we saw it - it was battleship gray. it looks much better naked.



when we first laid eyes on the balusters and handrail, they were covered with paint and dingy, dingy, dingy. i even doubted if they were original, they looked so awful. as a result, we hemmed and hawed a bit when it came to saving them and thought maybe another coat of paint would do. instead, they came back from the refinishers looking brand-new and so amazing.  it made all that work on the newels worth it.



this is the back of the garage -  a little old, a little new.

casual friday

a watched pot never boils.

friday meets the microwave.

the kitchen

the kitchen came out better than we could have ever imagined, thanks to the gorgeous cabinets a la steve.


we went way modern in this space. the stainless steel backsplash and countertops (still under wraps) seem to emphasize this fact.


the biggest feature (literally) is the 10' long island that runs down the middle. it's topped by that marble we found a few weeks ago.


at first, i wasn't sure about the big blob, but now, i love the winding gray vein.


ever the bargain hunter, dabney spent weeks looking online for deals on faucets and sinks. she found this sleek faucet on sale and a single basin sink big enough to bathe in (my one request) - all on closeout.  she does good work, no?

it seems that my first cup of coffee in our new kitchen could be as soon as next week.  more soon...

barn door

one of the coolest features of the new place is that there is a barn door that divides the living space from the work space. it is inspired by rooms like this and this.

it is not an original feature, but its addition that didn't seem to bother the historical commission much to our surprise.

we've gone back and forth on what it should look like.



traditional?



unexpected?  we saw this one recently in a huge empty warehouse on one of our fruitless craigslist adventures. it even has "st. louis fire door co." imprinted on it.


instead, we went a different direction.

the three glass panels were included, not only to let in light from the south-facing luminous box , but to mimic the store front windows. 

i think they also manage to look a lot like our doors.




i don't know how we ended up with cream-colored hardware but that's what the track and both handles look like. we're going to spray paint the handles black and paint the track white to make it disappear.

luminous box

we've been debating whether or not to paint the workroom floor.  but honestly, the medium density fiberboard that we had laid down as a cheap flooring solution looks like cardboard up close.

so paint, we did.




first, we had to go through and hand-brush the crevices, which really didn't take so long.



then, we rolled on the primer.  piece o' cake.



looking better already with just a coat of primer.  (the trim is just primed, too.  that'll be next along with the dingy column and door.)



there'll be plenty of color once furniture and art are added, but here it is in all is glossy glory!  it'll be like working in a luminous box - complete with pawprints, of course.

professional strippers, that's us.

i didn't think there were any surfaces left in the house that the former owner hadn't painted, but i was wrong.


the newels had to be stripped.  so once again, dabney and i donned our rubber gloves and went at 'em with our scrapers and wire brushes.




the little hole in the middle? that's where the previous owner had decided to install a LIGHT SWITCH of all things!?  we'll conceal it somehow.

fortunately for us, the balusters and the handrail are getting professionally-done.

tough toolbox

i just love this toolbox we saw lying around at the house. we presume it belongs to one of the crew. i guess no one's too tough for flintstones puffy stickers.

baths

the 1/2 bath on the main floor is just about done. all it's missing is a shelf that we recently ordered from the good old internets.

the mirror and the light above it are both old hospital fixtures. the first was found in a thrift store. the latter was spotted at an architectural salvage place in kansas city.  the guy who sold it to us was kind enough to give us an impromptu lesson in rewiring.


the sink... it was hard to find something small enough to fit in this little nook without protruding to much into the entry. our solution? a cheapo stainless steel hand wash sink that can be found at any restaurant supply store. works great.


the guest bath is just about done. the mirror, sink, and faucet were all installed recently.

the master bathroom is also so close to completion - we can taste it.



the shower trims were all installed. we've never owned a hand shower before, but thought it might be handy for a soon-to-be 80 lb. bloodhound.


around the corner is a pocket door. that's one of the original doors refinished, resized and repurposed to conceal the toilet. (there's one more in the house just like it hiding the 1/2 bath.)  there's only one thing left to be done in this room - the trim, pictured above, needs to be primed and painted.

we're inching toward our goal.

the wart

when i was a kid, i remember one evening our neighbor ran over to our house in a panic; his toddler son had shoved a green bean up one of his nostrils beyond anyone's reach. my mom, a pediatrician, grabbed her bag (an old timey leather doctor's tote with her name emblazoned on the side) and went to the rescue. she plucked that green bean right out with the help of some forceps.

while not quite the drama of the green bean extraction, dabney required my mother's expertise this past weekend... with a wart that recently appeared under her eye.

upon seeing the 30+ year old contraption required to cauterize her wart, dabney grew a little apprehensive, but she decided to trust mom's decades of expertise and hold still.






first, a shot of anesthetic.  dabney admitted this was the worst part.  note: mom's attire - a muumuu.

a couple of little zaps with this thingy and it was pretty much gone.

james and the giant tree

even though we're still weeks away from actually moving in, our new neighbor, james, surprised us with a generous housewarming gift.



sweet, no? it'll find its home in one of the storefront windows for sure.

i generally have black thumb when it comes to plants, but now that we live in a house full of light, i am happy to take up the challenge again.

lighting

i'll just say it here - lighting is expensive. we've struggled in figuring out ways to make it work yet keep it affordable. thus, 85% of our lighting is A) used or B) ikea.


lighting the workroom has been our biggest challenge yet. having never had such a large workspace, we're just not sure what are needs are, nor any idea of what will go where.  above are the big yellow lights we found at an estate sale months ago.  a couple of sets of florescent tubes are going up, too.



here is the island lighting not yet complete. they're just basic braided cord and exposed sockets. we had ordered antique-style bulbs, but when they arrived, two of the three were broken. bare compact florescents are the placeholders until the re-order arrives. wire cages will cover the bulbs and that will be that.



you gotta love the ubiquitous ikea fado pendants. there is a reason one sees them everywhere - they provide a lot of look for very little money. these look particularly great from the outside lighting up the storefront windows.



ebay was the source for the mini-sputnik above. (another fado is in the background.)

here's a better shot.

it's one of my favorites.



this one is a $20 craigslist find.



this one was procured via the internets.  gotta love sample sales.



in the guest bathroom, we've gone with exterior fixtures as an experiment. why not?


here is another lighting experiment - perhaps gone awry. the fixture above is actually considered a "garage" light (i imagine a very fancy garage with some sort of sexy sports car would be illuminated by such a light). here, it looks a little small. what do you think?

safe car wash

six clowns walk into a bar...

dabney and i were enjoying a post-work cocktail at one of our neighborhood watering holes, when in walked a bunch of clowns.



it was the most unusual of sights. there was no big top nearby. they didn't arrive via a little car either. it was just a posse of clowns sitting around drinking martinis.

that's when i realized that one clown looked familiar.


wait a minute - i went high school with this clown!

"mr. tickles" was a classmate of mine in high school. he and his clown friends do this every year to commemorate dining out for life - an annual AIDS education/prevention benefit.

he actually knew where dabney and i were hanging out and decided to stop by and make a scene.